Head in a bucket

If you haven’t heard the buzz in the blogosphere about the upcoming downtown planning meeting, you must have had your head in a bucket.

I haven’t written anything about it because I was immersed in work and in researching my most recent “good ideas “post. Plus, others have been doing such an amazing job reporting on this important upcoming event, that I haven’t felt the need.

The City of Richmond and Venture Richmond are pleased to announce the start up of the 2007 Downtown Master Plan update process. In order for this plan to reflect a shared community vision, participation from citizens like you is vital. All community members who wish to participate – residents, business owners, non-profits, government officials – are encouraged to attend presentations, design sessions, and the open design studio. Each day’s progress will be displayed in the design studio so that people will immediately see their ideas and vision taking shape….

This is a unique opportunity for you to give input and have a positive impact on Downtown Richmond. We look forward to seeing you there!

Charrette Schedule

Friday, July 20 – Kick-off Presentation

Location:

Plant Zero (Hull Street & E. 3rd Street)

Time:

6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

Event Description:

At the start of the charrette week, a “food for thought” presentation will be given to educate the public on best practices in downtown urban planning.

Saturday, July 21 – Hands-on Design Session

Location:

Plant Zero (Hull Street & E. 3rd Street)

Time:

9:00 am – 2:00 pm

Event Description:

At this design session, we will work in small groups sharing ideas and thoughts on the future of Downtown.

I’ve been plugging the need for more community input in development and planning since I started this blog – so I’m excited that this forum for public participation has been created. I’m skeptical that they’ll get participation from a wide cross-section of the city, as the publicity efforts have been lackluster, at least until some fabulous bloggers got involved. And I’m also unsure of whether these public efforts will actually change our city, but at least it’s a start.

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2 Responses to “Head in a bucket”

Thanks for calling attention to the Master Plan update. I hope that as many people as possible will turn out tonight (July 20) and tomorrow for the charette at Plant Zero. Plus stop by the open studio during the week and see the presentation on the 26th.

The consultants, Dover-Kohl Town Planners, are among the best in the country for involving the public in hands-on, visual-based planning. It’s exciting and a great way for the public to be involved in creating a vision and plan for our city. Within Virginia, Dover-Kohl has done work in Lynchburg, Arlington and City of Fairfax. See: http://www.doverkohl.com/

I lead the The Coalition for Smarter Growth (www.smartergrowth.net), which is headquartered out of DC and is a network of environmental and civic groups working in VA, DC and MD. We are big supporters of the process being used by the City of Richmond and of the work of Dover-Kohl and similar consultants. We are committed to revitalizing our cities and towns, investing in transit/ped/bike, using new urbanist community design, and reducing sprawl. The Partnership for Smarter Growth (http://www.valcvef.org/partnership/index.html) is working on the same issues for the Richmond region. Both groups will have members attending the charette.